Victoria and Albert

Went to the V&A today to see the Gargoyles and Shadows exhibition, however i was too late, with the exhibition ending on the 16th of May! So whilst i was there i decided to have a look around, the museum has many different rooms with the widest array of artifacs from all around the globe. But whilst i did not really see much to directly influence my designing skills, there was plenty there to assess and to admire whilst taking in other cultures. There was definatley alot there that could be interpreted into landscape design.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/architecture/index.html

RIB experience

So we were supposed to do something extraordinary, and i thought this was very unique and individual. http://www.thamesribexperience.com/index.php

The idea to this came from photos i saw of the students that stayed in London whilst i was in Barcelona. It seemed good to get a sense of Londons landmarks, although we were supposed to do something design related, i do feel this fits that criteria. It gave me a opportunity to explore spaces in a different way to usual, thinking of the River Thames as a space itself i found many things that interested me, things that i may get inspiration from in the future. Experiancing such things as the Thames Flood Barrier from the river allowed me to understand that something as mechanical and essential as this can be a large piece of landscape design.



Unfortunately the boat moves very fast and does some crazy stunts so it made it hard to take photographs.

Final Presentation

Im not quite sure weather this can go under a focus week heading, but the final presentation for this academic year was today the first day of the fifth and final focus week. I guess my presentation went good, and i got really useful feedback on my years work, so that i can progress well in level 6, fingers crossed. Take a look at what i presented...

Greenpeace Airplot revisited

Even though i had been to the site once already, that time was more for the initial feelings that i thought about the site. This time was more technical, with all the analysis for my Airplot project coming from this site visit.

Saatchi Gallery Pictures

Saatchi Gallery General

Even though i went to see he 20:50 installation in its newest home, i still stayed at the gallery for many hours, touring around the other exhibition that was on at that time: 'The Empire strikes back: Indian art today'. I found several parts of this exhibtion interesting but all in all none of it left a lasting impression on me, apart from the amazing model making.

Saatchi Gallery

The main objective when visiting the Saatchi gallery was seeing 20:50 an installation by artist Richard Wilson. This contemporary masterpiece is the only permanent piece in the gallery, having been on display by the Saatchi gallery since 1991. I first saw this piece when i was in high school when the gallery was by the London eye, when so young i felt a deep attraction to the piece, having never forgot it. I immediately felt very strongly by its depth and ability to make the space seem bigger, in some ways never ending, and i was very interested in seeing how i felt now that i study a course which relies on things such as space and everything about them. I guess i felt the same, but now i understood better how the medium that was used to create the installation and the fact that it has a mathematically symmetrical scope really affects the effect that the artists goes for when creating this piece. This experienced helped me realise several things, aspects of this installation will remain in my head, most importantly i will remember that even something recycled and simple such as the recycled sump oil in this piece can end up creating an environment or space that is so versatile and perfect that in my opinion can fill the void at many sites.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/richard_wilson.htm?section_name=None

Greenpeace Airplot

Before i went to the Saatchi Gallery i decided to quickly go and visit the Airplot in Sipson, where Greenpeace have a competition to propose an installation that opposes the creation of the 3rd runway at Heathrow. Upon first inspection i am not that impressed with the space, but i guess that is why there is a competition for it. The site is relatively small, well in comparison to the space that the 3rd runway would be it is microscopic, which initially left me stumped as to why they would use such a small plot of land. But it eventually came to me that it was not necessarily to form the biggest barrier possible, but to create a landscape that portrays a message about what is going on at the site, and the consequences that would result from the proposed runway.

Ecobuild - Tuesday - Urban planning & the public realm

So i decided to attended the Ecobuild seminars as advised. Now this kind of event aint really for me, but as it was design based, and would benefit me i decided to give it a go. The days seminars ranged from getting green infrastructure right to sustaining transition town initiaves with other smaller seminars through the day. Some seminars were alot more interesting than others, but overall they gave a good insight into the difficulties that need to be addressed within this field and its close professions. It gave issues to think about, but to be honest im still not sure im too interested in sustainability, but after these series of seminars i understand the importance of taking an interest.

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/seminars/day/tuesday-02-march

Landscape detailings

As i had mentioned i spent a few days just looking at the details in my previous projcts, in addition to this i had a look and tried to guess details for other peoples projects and sites, the aim of this was to build up a mental book of different things that work and dont..although i feel this is time well spent, i rather wish i had written all my findings in a book as i have just realised that remembering all these things without actually using and experimenting them will be rather difficult.

Detailing Book: Landscape Architects Pocket Book

After doing some detailing work, i decided to borrow this book from someone and have a look through it. Although it ain't really like a normal book for me to be able to right a review or thought about it, its a much more practical piece of reading. It gave me a good insight into drawing accurate details and gives accurate information about life spans, sustainability plus much more. To make the most out of this book i decided to put the information to good use, i decided to go through each project that i have completed since starting this course and seeing if my initial thoughts into materials and construction would have been feasible. I found that i would have rethought many things in my designs, but this practical experiment gave me a good lesson as well as making me upset that i had been so naive to think some impossible things could have worked. Most of all i feel that i learnt that materials and other details are a big thing within a design and a whole development process should be taken to insure that an idea is the best it can be.

Landscape Architecture Site/Non-Site

This focus week gave me the opportunity to finally comprehensively read through this well known book. The book essentially highlights landscape architectures new found significance, as a saviour to the increasingly urban way of life. The book goes on the basis that the world verges on the edge of environmental collapse, building on case studies it shows how now landscape design as an expanded profession now gives a different view of the conventional confines of a site.